Help and Support
Local Authority Business Discretionary Grant Fund Open
The online application process for the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund for businesses is now open.
This new grant of up to £10,000 is open to small and micro businesses which have been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but which aren’t eligible for the Government’s Small Business Grant Fund or the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Fund.
As the funding is limited the Council can currently only accept applications from the following types of business:
- Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces, such as units in industrial parks and science parks which do not have their own Business Rates assessment.
- Regular market traders with fixed building costs, such as rent, who do not have their own Business Rates assessment.
- Bed & Breakfasts which pay Council Tax instead of Business Rates.
- Charity properties in receipt of Charitable Business Rates Relief which would otherwise have been eligible for Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief.
- Applicants must meet the definition of either a small business or a micro business.
- Applicants must not be eligible for or benefiting from any other of the Government’s COVID-19 grant support schemes.
- Applicants must have high fixed property-related costs and be able to demonstrate a major drop in income as a result of the pandemic.
When the grant application process has closed in three weeks’ time, the Council will review the funding available. Any remaining amount will be made available for other types of business in a second round of grant applications.
In the first phase, grants will be available as follows:
- £5,000 for businesses which are in shared spaces that have property-related costs and employ 10 or less staff.
- £10,000 for businesses which are in shared spaces that have property-related costs and employ between 11 and 50 staff.
- £2,500 for Bed & Breakfasts that pay Council Tax and have less than six bed spaces and to be used wholly or mainly as guest or boarding premises.
- £2,500 for charities in shared spaces that have no property costs but are supported by landlords who pay Business Rates.
- £5,000 for charities that have property-related costs and employ 10 or less staff.
- £10,000 for charities that have property-related costs and employ between 11 and 50 staff
Eligible Calderdale businesses can apply for the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund here. Applications will be open until 5pm on Friday 26 June 2020.
If you have any questions or issues, please contact Covid19.Business@Calderdale.gov.uk
National Neighbourhood Watch week Sunday 7th June – 13th June 2020
Next week is National Neighbourhood Watch week from Sunday 7th June – 13th June 2020
Illingworth and Bradshaw Neighbourhood watch Facebook link
We would love to be able to join with you and your neighbours to celebrate however we are unable to do that at the minute.
So we are asking how you plan on celebrating Neighbourhood Watch Week and giving recognition to your wonderful neighbours that help and support your neighbourhood!
- Why not share a poster with your neighbours
- Gift a postcard #sharingthelove #bekind
- Host a virtual coffee morning
- Make some bunting for your garden or street!
You can use these PDFs as resources for cards and bunting printouts:
Bunting PDF – NW AW20 A4 Bunting
Support Card – NW AW20 Folding Card – Support
Whatever you choose to do, can you share the positive energy and comment with a photo or details of your celebrations with us either on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Illingworth-Bradshaw-Neighbourhood-Watch-240854533391380 or via my email address Karen.scanlon@calderdale.gov.uk
In the meantime I hope you’re all staying safe
If you do have any neighbourhood problems or you know somebody who may be interested in setting up or joining a watch group please don’t hesitate to contact myself or PC Chris Newton direct on chris.newton@westyorkshire.pnn.police.uk .
For non urgent issues or any other crime related issues ring 101. In case of an emergency always ring 999.
Karen Scanlon – Ward Link Worker – The North Halifax Partnership
TimeOut – Listening line for 10 – 19 year olds from Open Minds
Open Minds have a listening line for children and young people between 10 – 19 years, offering support and advice.
The number is 01422 345 154
The line is open on Wednesdays between 1pm – 4pm.
VSI Alliance – Newsflash from the Voluntary Sector Infrastructure (VSI) Alliance team
Newsflash from the Voluntary Sector Infrastructure (VSI) Alliance team
VSI News
Volunteer Week 1st to 7th June 2020
I’ve been humbled and awed by the few stories I’ve heard of local people and local groups rising above the fear and confusion to reach those most at need, to offer food, medicines and good old-fashioned human warmth & kindness at this time. I’ve been impressed by the speed and dexterity with which voluntary sector groups have adapted, always keeping those that they support at the centre of their service. But that’s one of the many things that the voluntary sector does best, isn’t it? Adaptation! We see a need and work out how to meet it – and we don’t worry about whether it’s in our job descriptions or whether it’s something that we ‘normally’ do!
I want everyone in the area to hear stories that will remind people that we really are in this together and without local people stepping up and reaching out to both neighbours and strangers alike, these last few months would have been much much worse for many. I do not doubt that volunteers have saved lives, saved families and saved sanities! I know that children and our older generation have been kept safer because of volunteers. I know that, because of volunteers, our neighbours who seek refuge and asylum are being respectfully cared for and included. Volunteers have made life-affirming contributions to those with disabilities, those suffering long-term isolation, homelessness and those with on-going mental health issues.
I want to share stories of the volunteering that is going on in Calderdale – to celebrate their efforts and, I hope, to go some way to restoring people’s faith in humanity at this time of isolation and growing division. We rightly clap for the NHS and carers on a Thursday evening – we should also be clapping for the kindness and compassion given freely by volunteers.
Please can you share with me a story or a brief case study (or even just a couple of lines/quotes) about some of the work that you’re doing at the moment that I can share on our social media outlets for Volunteer Week in June? My hope is that our IT wiz, the lovely Jake, can help me build your stories into some kind of presentation/video (I wouldn’t have a clue!) that we can all share around to let the world know that Calderdale is an amazing place with amazing people.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. If you’d prefer to chat over the phone rather than email, please let me know – I’d be happy to call at your convenience.
Charlie Johnston
Volunteer Development Officer
Charlie.Johnston@vsialliance.org.uk
Calderdale News & Information
Here I Am – Deadline: 5th June
Here I Am invites people living in the Borough to make something about them during this time. All entries will be collated and projected into a specially made lantern house in the Piece Hall courtyard for Refugee Week.
Latest News from Calder Valley Community Land Trust
Calder Valley Community Land Trust is still keeping very active and have a date for a virtual AGM.
Regional/National News & Information
Commissioning and Contracting – Shaping the ‘New Normal’
Help by sharing your experience of commissioning and contracting practice – whether it’s good, bad or mixed.
Partnership Pays Tribute to Vital Role of Volunteering as Part of National Volunteer Week
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership (WY&H HCP) are proud to be supporting national Volunteers Week which starts Monday 1 June.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Charities
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has published its report on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on charities.
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership Weekly Update
This week’s leadership message comes from Partnership Director; Ian Holmes, and Tony Jamieson, Director of Transformation for Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network.
West Yorkshire Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) Service Information Sessions
The service will soon be running Skype information sessions for professionals working within community settings. The sessions will include the role of the ISVA, how to make a referral and a brief overview of the Criminal Justice System in sexual violence cases.
Earlier this week:
Coronavirus Scam Alert Issue #8
West Yorkshire Trading Standards weekly update on COVID-19 related scams.
Public Health England Coronavirus Posters for Stay Alert Phase
These resources contain official guidance and key messages for Stay Alert phase relating to social distancing in specific settings.
What the Latest Government Guidance Means for People Affected by Dementia
The government has updated the restrictions on what people can and can’t do during the coronavirus pandemic and it’s important to be aware of what this means for people affected by dementia.
Funding News
Charities Encouraged to Bid for £15 Million Tampon Tax Fund – Deadline: 7th June
Organisations supporting women and girls are invited to apply for a share of £15 million from the Tampon Tax Fund.
About VSI Alliance:
All staff at the VSI Alliance are available remotely to support you and your organisation at this time with various aspects of your work, along with providing key information and resources. For support/advice, please contact info@vsialliance.org.uk, or see below contact information.
We can support you with:
- Organisational development
- Social enterprise, business development and asset transfer
- Governance
- All aspects of establishing a new group or organisation
- Quality assurance including Quality For Health
- Safeguarding support
- Fundraising and income generation
- Partnership working
- Specialist financial advice and services
- Volunteering brokerage and development
- Engagement Champions
- Voice and representation of the VCS sector
Contact information:
Delivery Manager, food banks and Sowerby/Ryburn area – contact Jayne Leech: jayne.leech@vsialliance.org.uk
Funding, business planning and any groups in Upper Valley – contact Pat Akerman: pat.akerman@vsialliance.org.uk
Engagement Champions – contact Nikkie Dooley and Jayne O’Connell nikkie.dooley@cvac.org.uk / jayne.o’connell@cvac.org.uk
Communication – e-bulletin/social media – contact Jake Farrar: jake.farrar@vsialliance.org.uk
Volunteering support and any groups in Central Halifax – contact Charlie Johnston: charlie.johnston@vsialliance.org.uk
Organisational development – any groups in North Halifax – contact Rachel Shaw: rachel.shaw@vsialliance.org.uk
Organisational development – any groups in Lower Valley – contact Olivia Swingler: olivia.swingler@vsialliance.org.uk
Locality specialist support – contact Sophie Michelena: sophie.michelena@vsialliance.org.uk
WYCAS: specialist financial advice – contact Helen Galvin: helen.galvin@vsialliance.org.uk
Government launches coronavirus Test and Trace service
The Government has announced the launch of its new Test, Trace (and Isolate) initiative, with effect from 9am on Thursday 28 May 2020.
You can read the press release here: Government launches NHS Test and Trace service
You can find an overview here: NHS test and trace: how it works
You can find workplace guidance here: NHS test and trace: workplace guidance
And you can find additional guidance here: Guidance for contacts of people with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection who do not live with the person
And here: COVID-19: guidance for households with possible coronavirus infection
Celebrating Volunteers Week June 1-7
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a volunteer?
Is it a quaint old lady behind a charity shop counter? A quirkily dressed, colourful individual? Perhaps a well meaning person bragging about their good deeds?
Over the past weeks that rapidly turned into months, the term of volunteering has cropped up a fair bit. But what exactly is volunteering and why is it so vital?
To say it means doing something for nothing oversimplifies it. Some think that volunteering is pointless, exactly for this reason.
To volunteer, yes, it means doing work without being paid. But it must be something done willingly, if not eagerly.
I have volunteered for my local charity shop for a few years now, though not as often as I’d like, work and family -and COVID!- notwithstanding. I chose to do this because the charity had personal importance to me but my motives were not entirely altruistic. I am a self confessed charity shop junkie, this perhaps another testament to the significance of voluntary work! A stroll into market meant a second hand trawling spree for me and how I miss it! I can put up with the supermarket queues, the lockdown, even took the initial empty toilet roll shelves in my stride. I think of all the closed second hand shops and I despair.
Volunteering was doing something I really loved whilst offering some of my free time into a cause I believed in. It got me to meet the ‘old ladies behind the counter’ who, I’ll have you know, we are a force to be reckoned with. It is something I would strongly encourage anyone to do.
What we offered is perhaps a drop in the ocean of necessity but what we have earned as individuals is astonishing. Volunteering empowered me, as I used my creativity and gumption and we were all proud, nay chuffed, to see how each closing time we had managed to successfully run a shop.
I feel that even from the point of our personal gain, we have benefited our community. We’ve discovered our self worth, we’ve passed it on, we’ve supported a shop and each other through some really challenging times. We provided our regular, loyal customers with a shop they enjoyed visiting. I look forward to seeing you all again.
There are currently numerous multinational organisations helping worldwide with the COVID-19 crisis, such as Oxfam, Unicef, Doctors without Frontiers, to name but a few, all of which started and continue to rely on volunteers. Over the past two months, there has been an overwhelming response of volunteers worldwide as well as in our own neck of the woods in Calderdale, offering to deliver crucial supplies, befriend those in need, help out with the NHS, with the notable astonishing achievement of Colonel Tom Moore who selflessly served his country twice in a span of nearly four generations!
Pragmatically, volunteering is work without fiscal reward and looks good on your CV. What it offers to the recipient and the volunteer cannot be quantified. The best part is, you don’t need to belong to an organisation or wear the badge and uniform. A simple gesture of goodwill, a tiny contribution can initiate extraordinary benefits to the lives of people far beyond your sight or reach. Arguably, volunteering is as crucial as paid work. Work keeps the world moving. Volunteering shapes it into the world we love living in.
So when you think of a volunteer, look past the quirky outfit and the age stereotypes. See the genuine smile on that face, unless they have a bad day. Amazing though they are, volunteers are still humans, albeit with great drive and a greater can-do attitude. For there’s no joy greater than the joy you give, and what a better way of doing it while doing something you love and believe in!
Volunteers Week is celebrated between 1st and 7th of June every year.
https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/volunteers-week-2020/
Calderdale VCS COVID-19 Peer Support Webinar 2nd June 2020
There is still time to register for the next Calderdale VCS Peer Support Webinar on Tuesday 2nd June.
This webinar will see the new Director of Public Health at Calderdale Council, Deborah Harkins, in attendance.
Register here: https://bit.ly/3enHpZt
VSI Alliance – Newsflash from the Voluntary Sector Infrastructure (VSI) Alliance team
Newsflash from the Voluntary Sector Infrastructure (VSI) Alliance team
Regional/National News & Information
Coronavirus Scam Alert Issue #8
West Yorkshire Trading Standards weekly update on COVID-19 related scams.
Public Health England Coronavirus Posters for Stay Alert Phase
These resources contain official guidance and key messages for Stay Alert phase relating to social distancing in specific settings.
Third Sector Awards Early Bird Entries – Deadline Tomorrow
You have until tomorrow (28th May) to get your early bird Third Sector entries in. Now is the perfect opportunity to shout about your charity, organisation and team.
What the Latest Government Guidance Means for People Affected by Dementia
The government has updated the restrictions on what people can and can’t do during the coronavirus pandemic and it’s important to be aware of what this means for people affected by dementia.
ICYMI:
Creative Leadership Course
Creative Leadership is for people working in the arts and cultural sector who want to strengthen their leadership skills, and who are driven by social impact in their work. It is a new free programme run by the School for Social Entrepreneurs, funded by Arts Council England’s Transforming Leadership programme.
Sharing Good Practice in Autism and/or Neurodiversity
Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network is working in partnership with West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health Care Partnership to identify a range of projects and programmes across the region which demonstrate a positive impact on the physical and/or mental health and wellbeing of young adults (14-25) and adults who have Autism and/or Neurodiversity.
West Yorkshire And Harrogate Health and Care Partnership – Weekly Update
This week’s leadership messages come from Richard Stubbs, CEO for Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network; Jo Farn, Programme Director, System and Leadership Development, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership; and Professor Sean Duffy, Clinical Lead for West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance.
Funding News & Resources
Funding to support armed forces charities doing vital work during pandemic – Deadline: 29th May
Serving personnel, veterans and their families will benefit from an additional £6-million of new funding to ensure they get the support they need during the coronavirus outbreak.
ICYMI:
Coronavirus Community Support Fund
Opened today, funding will help maintain and enhance services for vulnerable people affected by the current crisis, where delivery organisations are experiencing income disruption and/or increased demand.
Government Loneliness COVID-19 Fund
Organisations working to tackle loneliness and build social connections are invited to apply for a share of £5 million of funding, which the government is investing to help them to continue and adapt their critical work.
Vacancies
ICYMI:
Social Prescribing Link Worker – Closing date: 28th May
The social prescribing link worker will be employed by Pennine GP Alliance Ltd with direction from the Primary Care Networks (PCN) and based within the PCN practices.
About VSI Alliance:
All staff at the VSI Alliance are available remotely to support you and your organisation at this time with various aspects of your work, along with providing key information and resources. For support/advice, please contact info@vsialliance.org.uk, or see below contact information.
We can support you with:
- Organisational development
- Social enterprise, business development and asset transfer
- Governance
- All aspects of establishing a new group or organisation
- Quality assurance including Quality For Health
- Safeguarding support
- Fundraising and income generation
- Partnership working
- Specialist financial advice and services
- Volunteering brokerage and development
- Engagement Champions
- Voice and representation of the VCS sector
Contact information:
Delivery Manager, food banks and Sowerby/Ryburn area – contact Jayne Leech: jayne.leech@vsialliance.org.uk
Funding, business planning and any groups in Upper Valley – contact Pat Akerman: pat.akerman@vsialliance.org.uk
Engagement Champions – contact Nikkie Dooley and Jayne O’Connell nikkie.dooley@cvac.org.uk / jayne.o’connell@cvac.org.uk
Communication – e-bulletin/social media – contact Jake Farrar: jake.farrar@vsialliance.org.uk
Volunteering support and any groups in Central Halifax – contact Charlie Johnston: charlie.johnston@vsialliance.org.uk
Organisational development – any groups in North Halifax – contact Rachel Shaw: rachel.shaw@vsialliance.org.uk
Organisational development – any groups in Lower Valley – contact Olivia Swingler: olivia.swingler@vsialliance.org.uk
Locality specialist support – contact Sophie Michelena: sophie.michelena@vsialliance.org.uk
WYCAS: specialist financial advice – contact Helen Galvin: helen.galvin@vsialliance.org.uk
Financial support for voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations to respond to coronavirus (COVID-19)
The government has pledged £750 million to ensure VCSE can continue their vital work supporting the country during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, including £200 million for the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, along with an additional £150 million from dormant bank and building society accounts.
Read the full article on the Gov.uk website to find out about:
You can save me – NSPCC encourages you to be vigilant around child abuse
During lockdown, some children and young people may be being abused and exploited at home.
These children need your help! As a neighbour or key worker visiting homes for any reason, you may be the only person able to spot abuse and report it.
